Gardening to most people is the floriferous nature and visual impact of the property. Style is important in designing any property, some can be purely a place of peace and quiet, using only muted leaf colour to portray the feeling.

Heavily used pedestrian areas are often a mix of hard landscaping, which includes benches, litter bins, statues, water features etc., with large specimen trees or bold statements of plants use for the architectural features. Low maintenance gardens use materials that fulfil the need of the design, and usually incorporate the use of cacti, succulents with interest plants being Cycas sp (Sago) or Draceana and Strelitzia sp (Bird of Paradise).

Carpet bedding is a popular style for those who love annuals and like change throughout the yar. The full-blooded gardener is one who likes to mix and match, with colour, being created by flower the important factor.

Time is the master of us all, and Mother Nature can be quirky and unaccountable in her ways. With spring on our door step we can prepare for a colourful summer in the garden, by adding new material, replacing old and unwanted plants and dictating a succession of colour and activity.

Flowers are a major plus in any garden to give the viewer an immediate high. Whilst beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder, ones enthusiasm should be tempered to the need of keeping a high interest level in the garden at all times.

Foundation plantings go along way to create this part of the design concept, by anchoring the garden when perhaps "flowering times" are a little out of kilter. Such plants can have a strong influence on visual impact, with attractive leaves, silhouette outline or other architectural feature. Fruit and seed should also be considered when designing, as one complements the other and often extends interest time in the garden.

Time of flowering is also important when designing; attempt to plant material which has overlapping flower times with its neighbours, this gives the feeling of constant activity. Try not to plant material with similar flowering times adjacent to each other, as this will create large voids, drawing attention to the 'gaps' in flower colour.

The mix of material for use in the garden covers a wide selection of plant material, from cacti and succulents, ground covers, shrubs, trees, vines, palms, bulbs and associate material, bamboo, annuals, herbs, palms, bromeliads and ferns to name most of the candidates. The most popular from a flowering habit, are of course ground covers, shrubs and annuals, which seems a food place to start our deliberations.

Ground cover plants are best described, as low growing with a spreading habit, with a height of up to thirty inches. Best used in areas were low growth is desired, or between shrubby material to suppress weed growth.

Many hybrids of old favourites are now available, including the quick spreading Osteospermum or African Daisy. It is presently in flower and will usually flower again during the summer months, great for open areas that need quick cover, it hugs the ground and has a range of colours from white to purple.

One of my favourites is the Lantana, from the mat forming purple form to the upright types bearing a range from self-colours to multicoloured flowers. Lantanas bloom from March through to October especially so, if old blooms are removed and new growth encouraged.

Pentas lanceolata also has a long flowering period, similar in fact to the Lantana, and is a good foil for same. Has a more upright habit than Lantana, and is softer in its leaf texture, a sometime come on to caterpillars. Flowers range from white to red and pink with other hues in between, dwarf varieties are also available in a similar range of colours.

Dual-purpose plants are always worthy of consideration, in this instance, Senecio confusus or Mexican flame vine is the plant in question. It is by nature a vine or a rambler, growing just as well on a trellis as it will as a ground cover, with its orange blossoms decorating a sea of foliage. A fast grower that takes the sun well but is not keen on cold winter days.

Though not a fast grower, Sanseveria hahnii is an ideal plant for 'filling in' those small odd corners that is always difficult to use in an effective manner. It is low, growing to no more than several inches, and produces side suckers which as they grow, fill in the area nicely.

Sanseveria trifasciata 'laurentii' is a close relative having the same habit but attains height of eighteen to twenty four inches; they are both fairly tolerant to dry conditions.

Malpighia coggigera or Singapore Holly is also a low and slow growing plant attaining a height of twenty-four inches. As its name implies, it has holly shaped leaves, and small pink flowers; best grown in groups of three or five, planted at two-foot centers . The Slipper plant or Pedilanthus tithymaloides variegata is a succulent by nature, but when planted in groups, the small red flowers and variegated leaves and stems make a stunning statement, when interplanted with plants having darker green foliage.

The prostrate form of the Crown of thorns, Euphorbia splendens millii , is a most attractive and useful candidate, in many areas of the garden. It is relatively hardy, takes the sun well and when planted at eighteen to twenty four inches apart, forms a carpet of red flowers, with a haunting framework of spines running along each 'stem'.

These are but a random sample of materials that are worthy of consideration for most gardens, but always take into consideration what is to be planted adjacent to each plant, and will they live happily in a symbiotic relationship.